There is a verse in which Buddha urges his followers to take his words as they might accept from a jeweller a metal that appears to be gold: only after seeing that the metal does not tarnish when burned, can be easily cut, and can be polished to a bright shine should the metal be accepted as gold.

Thus, the Buddha gives us his permission to critically examine even his own teachings. Buddha suggests we make a thorough inquiry into the truth of his words and verify them for ourselves, and only then ‘accept them, but not out of reverence.’

Taking direction from statements such as these, ancient Indian monastic universities, such as Nalanda, developed a tradition whereby students would critically subject their own teachers’ scholastic work to analysis. Such critical analysis was seen in no way to go against the great admiration and reverence the students had for their teachers.

The famous Indian master Vasubandhu, for example, had a disciple known as Vimuktisena, who was said to excel Vasubandhu in his understanding of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras. He questioned Vasubandhu’s Mind-only interpretation and instead developed his own understanding of the sutras in accord with the Middle Way School.

An example of this in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition is Alak Damchoe Tsang, who was one of the disciples of the great nineteenth-century Nyingma master Ju Mipham. Although Alak Damchoe Tsang had tremendous admiration and reverence for his teacher, he voiced his objections to some of Mipham’s writings.

Once a student of Alak Damchoe Tsang is said to have asked if it was appropriate to critically object to the writings of his own teacher. Alak Damchoe Tsang’s immediate response was, ‘If one’s great teacher says things that are not correct, one must take even one’s lama to task!’

There is a Tibetan saying, ‘Retain your reverence and admiration for the person, but subject the writing to thorough critical analysis.’ This demonstrates a healthy attitude and illustrates the Buddhist tradition known as the approach of the four reliances:

Do not rely merely on the person, but on the words;
Do not rely merely on the words, but on their meaning;
Do not rely merely on the provisional meaning, but on the definitive meaning; and
Do not rely merely on intellectual understanding, but on direct experience.

—HHDL

In the novel "Fight Club", the importance of risk-taking for a young man is a central theme. The protagonist, who remains unnamed, is struggling with a sense of purpose and identity in the modern world around him made up of corporations and feminization. He finds himself drawn to the masculine and quasi-fascist world of "Fight Club" as a way to escape this soulless society and create his own parallel world for others like him to join which becomes a form of resistance.
Through his experiences in "Fight Club," the protagonist learns that being bold and risk-taking is an essential part of discovering who he is and what he is capable of by embracing the unknown and the unpredictable, he can gain a sense of control over his life and his destiny.
It also defines an essential part of being a man. In the masculine world of "Fight Club," where physical strength and thumos are valued above all else, taking risks is a necessary part of proving oneself as a man. Because of his boldness and risk taking the protagonist goes from a bugman office worker to becoming a man amongst men.

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Music Credit: Xurious & Elessar - The Hero With A Thousand Faces

To understand is your capacity to relate.

That is what we mean when we say compassion.

ᛁᚾ᛫ᛚᛟᚡᛖ᛫ᚨᚾᛞ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚹᚨᚱ᛫ᚨᚾᚤ᛫ᚨᚳᛏ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᛃᚢᛋᛏᛁᚠᛁᛖᛞ

ᚳash᛫ᚱules᛫ᛖvᛖᚱything᛫ᚨᚱound᛫ᛗᛖ.
But᛫not᛫ᛗᛖ

You can interact with objects. Like other people or rocks. And that will leave imprints on you.

You can also interact with imaginary objects.

Do you realise what this means?

Basically progress is done by developing deep confidence, concentration, wisdom, self control and eloquence if we are to train Mantrayana. The sutra explains that mantras, or word/sentence incantation can give rise to illusory effects (real ones) as if when a person thinks constantly in fear with notion of the body regarded as self and sickness even death therefore one causes the hallucinations to take shape more and more. Or say one thinks of a pleasant event and how it might happen so manifests it. Just the same as when someone takes hallucinogenic drugs, the things which mind takes for real as dragons, glowing balls of light, take existence because of confusion mixing up with complete confidence in reality

It becomes so natural and habitual to mind to dwell in certain notions that they turn into mere reflexes of thought which one hardly becomes aware of.

Craving and aversion conTROLLED through associations.

This magic is called binding.

Padmasambhāva / Guru Rinpoche 🔱🌈

Commissioned piece I thoroughly enjoyed!

Vajrayogini is coming to get me.

I'm a rabid defender of Morrowind.

This video contains an interview with the young boy who supposedly got "sexually molested" by the Dalai Lama, and his mother, talking about their experience. People should understand how serious this charge against the Dalai Lama is. Those who refuse to understand cultural differences will continue to make obstinate judgments against him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09mV1Msh9fA